Photographer Frank Chin captured the fun, the rides, and the food of this year’s Delta Fair.
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Month: September 2014
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Three Thoughts on Tiger Football
• The Tiger football program is not exactly known for upsets. It’s been almost 18 years since Memphis last beat a ranked opponent. (Raise your hand if you remember the upset of 6th-ranked Tennessee on November 9, 1996.) Over the last quarter-century, Memphis has won exactly three games against Top-25 opposition. (They also beat 16th-ranked USC in 1991 and 23rd-ranked Mississippi State to open the 1993 season.) To be fair, the Tigers have gone entire seasons — most recently 2012 — without playing a ranked team. But what kind of chance do the Tigers have Saturday night in the Rose Bowl against 11th-ranked UCLA? Most betting lines have the Bruins favored by three touchdowns. The Tigers have won only two road games since Justin Fuente became head coach, and only three road games — total — since the start of the 2009 season. All of which, if you ask me, makes a delightful setting for an upset around midnight central time Saturday night. UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley may win the Heisman Trophy and the Bruins may claim L.A. as their own with the recent turnover at Southern Cal. But the Tigers held serve (mightily) in their opener against Austin Peay, and have been looking forward to this trip an entire off-season. I’d be foolish to pick the Tigers to win, but I don’t think Paxton Lynch, Charles Harris and friends will be intimidated by the ranking their foe brings this weekend.
• My favorite stat from the Austin Peay game was the average yards per play allowed by the Tiger defense: 2.9. That’s an extraordinary number, and is certainly a reflection of the Tigers’ inferior opponent. But it’s a number worth watching as the U of M season — particularly the arduous first half — unfolds. I’m convinced the Tiger defense will win or lose games this season (by establishing how much a still-young offense must produce). Last season, the Tigers allowed 5.2 yards per play, down from 5.4 in 2012 and 6.6 the last year under coach Larry Porter. The closer Memphis can get to 4.0 — consider the figure a GPA for a college football team’s defense — the closer the Tigers will be to legitimate bowl contention. (Michigan State led the country last season, allowing 4.04 yards per play. Next was Florida State at 4.09.)
• The only white-knuckle moment for Tiger fans Saturday night came midway through the third quarter when senior defensive end Martin Ifedi was helped off the field, having apparently injured an ankle. (The Tiger staff and administration remain hush-hush on the severity of the injury, or whether or not Ifedi will play against UCLA.) Memphis was leading 49-0 at the time, which led to some easy second-guessing on the wisdom of having a star like Ifedi on the field.
I have no problem with Ifedi playing, regardless of the score. He’s a football player, a defensive lineman no less. Trying to measure the probability of a lineman injuring himself on any snap of the football is like trying to dodge raindrops in a late-summer Mid-South thunderstorm. The Austin Peay game was the 37th of Ifedi’s college career (he has not missed a game for the Tigers). Needless to say, he’s been on the field when the score was the inverse of the one Memphis fans relished last Saturday. He’s earned the right to be on the field with his team comfortably ahead.
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Health Care Cuts Still Being Debated
Toby Sells reports that the Memphis City Council is still pondering changes to its decision on employee healthcare benefit cuts.
Changes made to the health care benefits of Memphis city employees are officially back on the table after an outside review of an alternative health plan devised by employee labor unions.
The plan will get further review next week in a specially called meeting of the Memphis City Council’s personnel committee. On Tuesday, council members heard from consultants from Mercer and Cigna about the potential savings involved in the implementation of a high-deductible health plan proposed by the public labor unions.
The consultants could not agree on some key figures Tuesday and will spend the week communicating and sharing information ahead of next week’s meeting. Should their calculations agree and council members like what they hear, a new health insurance plan could be voted on by the full council in two weeks.
Since they passed the budget back in June, the council has continued to grapple with the fallout of the health plan changes included in the budget. The changes include increasing insurance premiums by 24 percent, cutting some spouses from the health insurance plan altogether, and cutting a 70 percent health insurance subsidy for some retirees.
Backlash to the cuts has been severe at times with public protests at Memphis City Hall and a massive work action that saw more than 500 police officers and 80 fire fighters collectively call in sick around the Independence Day holiday.
But as those protests were raging, union officials were busy crafting an alternative benefits proposal that would eliminate the premium increases, halt the cuts to retirees, and allow spouses to stay in the city plan.
The topic dominated much of the council’s committee debate Tuesday with a pair of two-hour sessions. but the constant talk of health care began to frustrate some council members. Council member Wanda Halbert said the council has already passed the changes and wondered why discussion continued.
“I know we already made a vote in the budget,” said council member Harold Collins. “But we owe it to the citizens and employees who work for us down to the last minute if we have to to come up with a plan that everyone can live with.”
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“If I Stay” Lingers
Addison Engelking says there are moments in If I Stay that elevate it above the typical teen drama.
Tonight at 8 pm Rocket Science Audio will be hosting a telethon to benefit the Church Health Center and Rock For Love Eight. Staying true to the theme that Rocket Science Audio has developed over the last two years, there will be comedy, live music and “all around tom foolery,” according to Rocket Science co-founder Robin Pack. visit www.rocketscienceaudio.com to stream the entire telethon for free. To get a feel for what’s in store for tonight, check out Rocket Science Audio performances by Memphis’ own Time and The Oblivians in the videos below.
Here’s the complete list of tonight’s performers and special guests:
Nick KnowledgeNick Hicks, The McStays featuring Lori and Jared McStay, Benny Elbows, Katrina Coleman, Joshua McLane, SUPER WITCH, J.D. Reager, Mark Stuart, Faith Ruch, Jason Pulley, Harry Koniditsiotis, vi, Ross Johnson ,and Many More! The telethon wil be hosted by Stephen and Michael Kline.
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Redbirds Make the Playoffs
Frank Murtaugh reports on the Redbirds’ return to the PCL playoffs.
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Memphis Redbirds are Playoff-Bound
Allison Rhoades/Memphis Redbirds
The Memphis Redbirds are back in the Pacific Coast League playoffs. For the first time since 2010, the Redbirds will compete for one of two league championships at the Triple-A level (the other being the International League’s). As you were grilling burgers on the Fourth of July, you didn’t exactly see postseason baseball coming to AutoZone Park two months later. But thanks to some stellar starting pitching and the thunderous bat of a sometimes-overlooked slugger, the Redbirds will indeed host the Omaha Storm Chasers this Friday in Game 3 of the PCL’s American Conference championship. If momentum can be carried over from the regular season, Memphis has a more than decent chance of earning the franchise’s third PCL title.
How significant has the Redbirds’ two-month surge been? Consider the team was lagging in fourth (last) place in their division on July 2nd, with a record of 38-46 after being shut out by the Nashville Sounds. Starting the next day in New Orleans, Memphis won five straight and eight of ten games. Having won seven games through the end of June, starting pitcher Tim Cooney won seven more games to break the franchise record for victories in a season. Another lefty, Tyler Lyons, won six consecutive starts. Marco Gonzales and Zach Petrick added to the fun, providing the Redbirds with one of the most consistent starting rotations in Triple-A baseball. Supported by an offense that found its groove right after super-prospect Oscar Taveras was promoted to St. Louis (July 1st), Redbird pitching posted a 41-18 record to finish the season with 79 wins, third most in franchise history.
The face of that hitting groove has been first-baseman Xavier Scruggs. The 26-year-old slugger was hitting .248 on July 2nd, almost precisely his career average (.249) over the first six seasons of his pro career. But with an August for the ages (.345, 8 homers, 28 RBIs), Scruggs managed to steal some headlines from more talked-about Cardinal prospects like Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty.
“The season’s been a learning process,” says Scruggs. “I had to make a lot of adjustments, to figure out what pitchers were trying to do to me, and have a plan. I had to take a step back. Physically, I had to make my swing shorter, started taking what a pitcher gives me, even if it’s just a base hit to the right side.” Like every aspiring big-leaguer, Scruggs aims to be a more consistent hitter as he ponders the offseason and his future in the game. (Scruggs is not on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster so will not be going to St. Louis this month to help in the parent club’s pennant race.)
Scruggs is reluctant to accept accolades without mentioning the impact of his teammates. In particular, he describes how important outfielder Tommy Pham has been to the playoff push. With his playing time boosted upon the promotion of Taveras, Pham finished the season hitting .324 with 20 stolen bases. “Tommy has worked hard all season,” says Scruggs, “even when he wasn’t playing. As soon as he jumped in, he was able to be a spark plug. He’s been huge for us. It’s one of the reasons we took off.”
And how do you explain three months of sub-.500 baseball, followed by a two-month storming of the PCL gates? “The team just started gelling,” says Scruggs. “All the personalities came together, and everyone started feeling their role. Pitching came together and hitting came together at the same time. Earlier in the season, there’d be good pitching one day, but no hitting. For some reason, it took our team that long [to gel]. I can’t put a finger on exactly why, but I’m just glad we ended up doing it.”
Scruggs is one of eight current Redbirds who played for the 2012 Springfield Cardinals, a team that won the Texas League (Double-A) championship. He sees similarities in the 2014 Redbirds, and beyond the familiar faces of teammates like Eric Fornataro, Audry Perez, and Jermaine Curtis. “Guys want to finish strong,” says Scruggs. “Guys are trying to finish strong individually and collectively. When we started to play better, you got the sense guys wanted to get here earlier, stay later. We were having more fun in the clubhouse. Everybody in that clubhouse is a huge team guy. There are no big egos on this team. It’s fun to be around.”
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Fun at the Zoo Brew
Frank Chin captured some of the sudsy fun at last weekend’s Zoo Brew.
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Jimi Jamison: 1951-2014
When Casey Kasem calls you “The Voice,” you can sing. Jimi Jamison, who passed away yesterday from a heart attack, could sing. Best known as the front man of Survivor, Jamison racked up his own hits and backed up some of the biggest artists of our time. He seems to have been loved by everyone who ever met him. From his jingle days to the height of his career, Jamison touched those around him with his humility as much as his talent. His work with Target, Cobra, and Survivor stands on its own. His hits with the latter group dominated radio in the 1980s. See next week’s paper for an in-depth tribute to one of Memphis’s great talents. Videos after the jump.
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Jimi Jamison: 1951-2014
Jimi Jamison: 1951-2014 (2)